Transmission Issue

My transmission on my '04 SL500 is having some major issues right now. My car seems to fall out of gear sometimes when I'm stopped (and once when I was going at freeway speed) and go into limp mode.

I took my car into a private shop and they told me that it is the valve body solenoid and that it has to be replaced and, as of '09 or '10, only the dealer can replace it since they do not sell this part to shops anymore.

I was looking at some forum posts here and a couple folks that had the same issue said that it has also been caused by the speed sensor and so I am trying to get the fault codes from the dealer who I took my car into today to find out which issue it actually is.

I was just wondering though, has anyone had to replace their valve body solenoid and how much did it cost them?

well, your car should have the 722.6 5-speed transmission in it.. generally its not a valve body issue with those transmissions. There is an electrical plate that holds all the solenoids with some internal sensors and fits onto the top of the valve body, and that sometimes fails internally. I would try that with a new filter, fluid and conduit before tossing an expensive valve body on it.

but if you can get the fault codes from the dealer, that would also help with diagnosis

Well part of the problem is that the dealer told me they are getting blank codes when they run their diagnostic. They are telling me that the valve body is not sending any fault codes to the computer and so they had to test it manually. I was hoping to get the codes and have an independent shop tell me if the issue could be remedied any other way, but they did tell me that it was an electrical issue and this sounds like it could possibly be the cause.

Is there any way to tell if it is a 5 or 7 speed transmission? Also is there any way to check one way or the other whether the problem is the valve body or the electical plate?

If you wouldn't mind PM'ing me I could use some over the phone help as this is a $2500+ repair job as it stands now and I could use a little bit of help with understanding how to find the problem and what to ask them.

Really appreciate the suggestion either way though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racin_fool

well, your car should have the 722.6 5-speed transmission in it.. generally its not a valve body issue with those transmissions. There is an electrical plate that holds all the solenoids with some internal sensors and fits onto the top of the valve body, and that sometimes fails internally. I would try that with a new filter, fluid and conduit before tossing an expensive valve body on it.

but if you can get the fault codes from the dealer, that would also help with diagnosis